Process and apparatus for removing the skin from fruit.



APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24.19.

Patented Oct. 8, 1918.

IN VEN TOR. w. s/M/v/vo/v BY Mi v9.1a

WITNESS Hi5 ATTORNEY5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

GEORGE W. SHANNON, 0F TURLOCK, CALIFORNIA.

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR REMOVING THE SKIN FROM FRUIT.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 24, 1917. Serial No. 157,106.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnonon W. SHANNON, a citizen of the United States and a resident of Turlock, county of Stanislaus, and State of California, have invented a certain new and useful Process and Apparatus'for Removing the Skinlfroin Fruit, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to. a process of and apparatus for removing the skin from peaches and other kinds of fruit and vegetables.

In preparing canning, the skins of the fruit are usually first loosened or disintegrated by subjecting the fruit to the action of a solution of caustic soda, which reduces the skin to'a loose Another object of my invention is topro vide unitary means for simultaneously washing the previously disintegrated skin from the fruit andadvancing the frui-t'through the apparatus.

The invention other advantageous features, some of which, with the. foregoing, will be'set 'forth at length in the following description, where I shall outline in full, that form of the invention which I have selected for illustration inthe draw-- ings accompanying and forming art of the present specification' In said diawmgs I have shown only one form of my invention,

peaches and other fruit for corru ate skin and indirectly by causing an agitation of the water and also by driving the fruit through thewater. These actions thoroughly remove the disintegrated skin from the fruit and thoroughly wash the fruit of the caustic soda solution, both on the surface and in the p-it cavity.' The jets of air also act to feed the fruitthrough the apparatus.

The'apparatus of my invention comprises a suitable tank 2 preferably rectangular in shape, which is divided intoa plurality compartments 3, 4:, 5, 6 by the partltion walls 7 8 and 9. Arranged-in the tank and extending through openings in the partitions walls, is a rotatable open ended drum 12 havin preferably a circumferentially perforated surface 13. The drum Patented Oct. s, 1918.

' is pre erably mounted on rollers Marranged within the tank' and is provided with circumferential bands or tracks 15 for en- 7 gagement with. the rollers. The drum is preferably rotated by a chain 16 engaging a gear 17 on the drum and a, driving sprocket 18 mounted on the tank or' other suitable support. At one end, the tank is provided with a fruit feed chute 19 which extends into the open end of the drum and at theother end the tank is provided with a suitable inclined conveyer 21 for removing the washed fruit from the tank after it is discharged from the drum.

Arranged longitudinally within the, drum and. preferably concentric therewith, is a pipe'22' containing air under pressure from a suitable source and provided with a plurality of nozzles or apertures 23 for projecting .jets ofair toward the wall of the drum. These apertures or nozzles 23 are inclined froma plane perpendicular to the but it is to be understood that the invention mer ethe fruit with its reviousl g the 1 as expressed in the claims may be embodied in a plurality of forms.

Referring to-said drawings: 7 l igure 1 isa ertical-longitudinalsection of the apparatus f my invention.

axis, toward the discharge end of the drum, so that the air jets propel the fruit long1- tudinally through. the drum.

The tank is filled with water and each compartment is provided with anoverflow pipe 24;. During the operation of the apparatus water is continuously introduced into the separate compartments from the supply pipe 25. The openings in the partit1on walls are of suificient size to accommodate the drum but not much larger, so

Fig. 2 is a .cross section of the apparatus.

'Inaccordance with my invention I subgrated skin, inwat'er or o r suita and direct jets of under pressure agamst the submerged fruit. These ets act directly on the fruit'to remove the disintegrated disinte- 8 qu that free circulatlon between the compartments is not established except through the drum.

The fruit, with the skin previously disintegrated, is fed into the chute 19 and sinks through the water therein and enters the rotating drum. The fruit is caught by the corrugations in the drum and lifted and dropped through the water therein. During such action the fruit is subjected to the air jets, which preferably issue at about fifty pounds pressure and the skin is removed from the fruit. The air jets also agitate the water and drive the fruit through the water, insuring the complete removal of the skin and the thorough washing of the fruit. During this action the fruit is being propelled toward the discharge end of the drum. The removed disintegrated skin is driven by the air jets through the apertures in the drum and floats to the surface of the water in the compartment, whence it discharges through the overflow pipe. The major proportion of the skin will be removed in compartment 3 and the successive com partments will receive successively lesser amounts, so that the fruit is successively subjected to cleaner Water as it passes through the drum, thereby insuring its thorough washing.

1 claim: 4 1. The method. of removing previously disintegrated skin from fruit which consists in submerging the fruit in liquid and subthe fruit through said liquid and subjecting the moving fruit to the action of jets of air under pressure.

3. The method of removing previously disintegrated skin from fruit which consists in submerging the fruit in a bath of liquid agitated by jets of air under pressure dis.- charging within the body of the liquid.

4. The method of removing previously disintegrated skin from fruit which consists in submerging "the fruit in liquid and propelling the fruit through the liquid by jets of air under pressure.

5; In an apparatus for removing previously disintegrated skin from fruit, a tank adapted to contain liquid, a rotatable drum submerged in said liquid, and means within the drum for directing jets of air under pressure at an inclination to the plane per- I pendicular to the axis-of the drum.

6. In an apparatus for removing 'pre-- viously disintegrated skin from fruit, a tank adapted to contain liquid, a, rotatable open end drum submerged in said liquid, means for feeding fruit into one end of the drum and means within the drum for directing jets of air under pressure toward the opposite end of the drum.

In testimony whereofl have hereunto set my hand at Turlock, California, this 13th day of March, 1917.

GEORGE W. SHANNON. 

